ESPN Media to Provide Extensive Multimedia Coverage of the 2007 College Football Season

Game Telecasts, In-Depth Analysis and News Across Multiple Global Television Networks, Internet, Cell Phones, Radio, Pay-Per-View and Magazines

ESPN media will offer college football fans the most comprehensive coverage of the sport with

programming across multiple television networks around the world as well as radio, internet, cell phones, broadband, pay-per-view and magazines.  Highlights include (specific details below):

• More than 450 regular-season, bowl games and NCAA football championship contests across ESPN on ABC; ESPN; ESPN2; ESPNU; ESPN Radio; ESPN360.com; ESPN Classic; ESPN Mobile TV; ESPN Regional Television; and ESPN GamePlan, ESPN’s out of market pay-per-view service.

• Extensive studio coverage on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, highlighted by ESPN’s new daily College Football Live program.  Additional shows include ESPN’s College GameDay Built by The Home Depot and College Football Final every Saturday; College Football Countdown Saturdays on ABC; three weekly shows on ESPNU breaking down the polls, showcasing coaches’ press conferences and evaluating top high school recruits; and season-long coverage on SportsCenter and First Take.

• ESPN Radio broadcasting a regular-season game every Saturday for the first time; 17 bowl games highlighted by all five BCS matchups; and day-long news, analysis and discussion every Saturday.

• ESPN Mobile Properties offering extensive coverage on cell phones including live games, highlights, news and updates on ESPN Mobile TV as well as real-time scores, exclusive segments, highlights and more on other mobile outlets.

• ESPN.com providing news, scores, chats, blogs, in-depth reporting, insights and analysis.

• More than 250 games on ESPN360.com plus press conferences.

• ESPN Classic televising live games, weekly encore presentations of games from the previous weekend and theme replays of participating teams in upcoming matchups.

• ESPNEWS offering day-long coverage every Saturday, highlighted by College Football Overdrive (3 p.m. to 8 p.m.) providing live cut-ins to games, in-depth analysis, press conferences and fan interactive polls.

• ESPN International’s extensive college football coverage, including regular-season and bowl games, to more than 140 countries and territories. 

• ESPN The Magazine’s season preview issue and extensive season-long coverage.

ESPN Radio

For the first time in its 15-year history, ESPN Radio will broadcast regular-season college

football games.  The 14-week ESPN Radio College Game of the Week schedule will kick off September 1 with Kansas State at #18 Auburn at 7:45 p.m.  In addition to regular-season games, ESPN Radio will broadcast 17 post-season bowl games, including all five of the Bowl Championship Series matchups.  Saturday studio programming will include: College GameDay TailGate Show (9 a.m.-noon); College GameDay (noon-7 p.m. including remote broadcasts from eight of the season’s top games); and College GameDay Scoreboard Show (7 p.m.-game time).  Additionally, The Herd with Colin Cowherd (10 a.m.-1 p.m.) will originate from the site of five games, while ESPN Radio will also present live coverage of the Heisman Presentation, podcasts and online streaming opportunities.

ESPNU

              ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will showcase more than 70 exclusive games beginning with #10 Louisville’s home opener against Murray State Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m.  The network will generally offer five games each week, featuring teams from the ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, MAC and Conference USA as well as the Ivy League, MEAC, Ohio Valley, Southern and SWAC.  For additional coverage, fans can visit www.ESPNU.com -- the online college sports hub -- for exclusive online video and audio content, and up-to-date news and information.

              ESPNU will offer three weekly college football shows to supplement the game schedule and the Thursday and Saturday pre-and post-game coverage: ESPNU Inside The Polls Mondays at 7 p.m. (beginning September 10), ESPNU Coaches Spotlight Tuesdays from 1 to 5 p.m. (beginning September 11) and Recruiting Insider Fridays at 7:30 p.m. (beginning August 31).  

ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 Game Telecasts

ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise more than 180 regular-and post-season

games, highlighted by a Saturday night game on each network.  In addition to extensive Saturday coverage, ESPN will televise weekly Thursday and Friday night games, and ESPN or ESPN2 will feature games on select Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays.

High Definition

For the second year, every ESPN and ESPN2 full national telecast and every Saturday Night

Football game on ABC will be available in high definition on ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ABC HD, respectively. 

Studio Coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will offer extensive studio coverage throughout the season.  In addition

to pre-game, halftime and post-game news and analysis, ESPN will televise the new College Football Live program Monday-Friday at 3:30 p.m., and Saturday shows College GameDay Built by The Home Depot at 10 a.m. and College Football Final at midnight.  ESPN on ABC will also provide pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage, and College Football Countdown at 3 p.m. every Saturday.

SportsCenter

SportsCenter will provide extensive news, previews and reviews of key games from the season

kick-off through the BCS National Championship.  Weekly SportsCenter coverage will include on-site reports from ESPN’s Thursday night game along with studio updates from Rece Davis, Lou Holtz and Mark May.  Additionally, College GameDay’s Fowler, Lee Corso and Herbstreit will contribute on Friday SportsCenter editions.

ESPN360.com

ESPN360.com, the company's dynamic live-event broadband service, will deliver more than

250 live college football games online this season, including exclusive games and simulcasts of ESPN, ESPN2 and regional telecasts.  In addition to an extensive game schedule, ESPN360.com will provide live coverage of pre-and post-game and coaches’ press conferences throughout the week.

ESPN.com

ESPN.com will feature season-long coverage with in-depth reporting, insights and analysis

from ESPN.com, Scouts, Inc., ESPN The Magazine and ESPN television experts every week; columns and blogs from ESPN analysts and reporters; fan polls and live chats; a team-by-team breakdown of the major conferences; and more.  Highlights include:

• ESPN.com's College Football Season Preview, available now at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/index, provides a team-by-team breakdown of the major conferences and independent programs, the latest news and analysis, and ESPN Motion video from college football camps around the country.
• Analysis and insight from Beano Cook, Bob Davie, Brad Edwards, Bruce Feldman, Pat Forde, Rod Gilmore, Kirk Herbstreit, Craig James, Mel Kiper, Jr., Ivan Maisel, and Mark Schlabach.
• Todd McShay and the team of former pro and college scouts at ESPN Scouts, Inc. will bring scouting reports, pre-season position-by-position rankings, Heisman Trophy candidate breakdowns and more.
• ESPN.com's SportsNation will feature fan polls and live chats daily throughout the season with coaches and players from around the country, as well as ESPN and ESPN.com writers and analysts.
• ESPN Insider, the site's premium content section, will feature a column by Chris Fowler and daily blog maintained by Feldman.

• Each week, The ESPN.com Bottom 10 will update the unscientific look at which teams are among the worst in the country.

ESPN Classic

ESPN Classic will offer extensive season-long coverage, including live game telecasts, weekly

encore presentations of games from the previous week and previews of upcoming contests featuring replays of games between the participating teams.

Coverage will begin August 25 at 5 p.m. with ESPN Classic's Top 25 Countdown featuring 25

consecutive college football game encore telecasts – totaling 50 straight hours – counting down the Top 25 teams on the Associated Press preseason poll.  The countdown will conclude with a replay of a game involving #1 USC August 30 at 5 p.m.

ESPN Classic will televise at least six live games throughout the season beginning with the

MEAC-SWAC Challenge pitting Southern vs. Florida A&M (Sept. 1 at 3 p.m.).

              Regular weekly series include:

• ESPN Game of the Week -- Sundays from 9 a.m. to noon beginning September 2 -- will feature an encore presentation of the best college football game on ESPN or ABC from the previous week.

• Classic College Football Replays -- Mondays - Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. beginning September 4 -- will preview each week’s top upcoming games with replays of previous meetings between the participating teams.  In addition, most weeks will also feature a Classic College Football Replay every Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

• Friday Tailgate -- Fridays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. beginning September 7 -- will feature three games in-a-row highlighting the top three games to watch for that weekend.

ESPN Mobile Properties

              ESPN Mobile Properties – available through licensing agreements with every major domestic wireless carrier and in more than 30 countries internationally -- will offer extensive college football coverage.  Highlights include:

• ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN’s first 24/7 channel for wireless and available on MediaFLO USA’s mobile entertainment service, will simulcast more than 75 games from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com as well as 20 bowl games.  In addition to live game coverage, ESPN Mobile TV will provide highlights, news and updates on a variety of scoreboard shows.

• ESPN MVP, available exclusively on Verizon V Cast, will deliver customizable content including breaking news alerts, real-time scoring updates, highlights, exclusive segments and commentator analysis from College GameDay, College Football Live and SportsCenter.  In addition, ESPN MVP users can customize their application to access their favorite team’s news, notes and highlights.

• ESPN’s WAP site, the industry’s most trafficked sports content wireless site available through all domestic mobile carriers, will provide scores, breaking news, rankings, schedules, conference standings, player and team information, and much more.

ESPNEWS

ESPNEWS, the nation’s only 24-hour sports television news network, will offer extensive

season-long pre-and post-game coverage highlighted by the weekly Saturday five-hour College Football Overdrive featuring live cut-ins to games, analysis, press conferences and interactive fan polls.  Details of coverage include:

• College Football Overdrive (Saturdays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.): Wall-to-wall coverage will feature live cut-ins to games, pre-and post-game press conferences, analysis from Jim Donnan and Robert Smith with host Dari Nowkiah, and analysis from ESPN and ABC analysts.  Saturday coverage will begin with The Pulse (from noon to 3 p.m.), offering news, analysis and highlights coupled with fan interactive elements such as polls, opinions, etc.

• Hotlist (Tuesdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.): Josh Elliot will host live coverage of weekly coaches’ press conferences, plus news and analysis of the previous weekend’s action.

• Hotlist (Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.): Hotlist will serve as the kickoff to the college football weekend with news, analysis, interviews and previews of the weekend.  Analysts include Holtz, May, Herbstreit, Jim Donnan, Tom Luginbill and McShay.

• Football Friday (Fridays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.): Host Stan Verrett and analyst Sean Salisbury will provide an hour of college and professional football previews and analysis.

ESPN International

ESPN International will offer extensive college football coverage, including regular-season and

bowl games, to more than 140 countries and territories.  Highlights include:

• More than 100 live studio shows, and regular-season and bowl game telecasts on NASN (North American Sports Network) and NASN2, available in 16 countries and territories.  Coverage will include ESPN Thursday and Friday night games, ACC, Big 12 and SEC Conference championship matchups, up to 25 bowl games including all five Bowl Championship Series contests and the Saturday morning College GameDay Built by The Home Depot.

• The Saturday evening ESPN College Football Primetime Presented by Hampton will be offered live on ESPN networks in Africa, Middle East and Israel.

• The Thursday night ESPN College Football Primetime Presented by Applebee’s will be available live on ESPN networks in Africa, Middle East, Israel, Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

• The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi will be televised live on ESPN networks in Africa, Middle East, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, South America and throughout Asia on ESPN Star Sports.

ESPN Regional Television

ESPN Regional Television, the nation’s largest syndicator and production company of

intercollegiate sports programming, will present approximately 60 college football telecasts locally this season.  ESPN Regional Television will offer syndicated games from the BIG EAST, Mid-American, Western Athletic and Sun Belt Conferences.

ESPN GamePlan

              Fans can also purchase the ESPN GamePlan package featuring approximately 12 games a week that are not available locally, including ESPN Regional Television and regional telecasts on ABC.  A season-long subscription for ESPN GamePlan is available for an early bird special of $109 before September 1 and $129 after.  The per-day price is $21.95. 

ESPN The Magazine

ESPN The Magazine will offer season-long college football coverage.  ESPN The Magazine’s

college football preview issue, on newsstands now, contains more than 30 pages of college football action - including features on Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm and Cal's DeSean Jackson.  The issue also contains a scouting report on The Magazine's pick of the Top 16 power teams.

- CollegeFootball07-